President Barack Obama is
interviewed by NBC's Chuck Todd on "Meet the
Press."NBC

At least one prominent fact-checking organization is calling out
President Barack Obama for falsely claiming he "wasn't
specifically referring to" Islamic State militants when he
dismissed them as a "JV" team.

During an interview on Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Obama
was pressed on the comments, published in a January profile in
The New Yorker. In the piece, Obama was asked about the jihadist
militants who had just captured Fallujah, Iraq. He
replied: "The analogy we use around here sometimes, and I
think is accurate, is if a jayvee team puts on Lakers uniforms
that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant."

Obama told "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd that he was speaking
broadly at the time and not specifically about the Islamic State,
also known as ISIS or ISIL, which has recently killed two
American journalists and is threatening still more violence.

"Keep in mind I wasn't specifically referring to ISIL. I've said
that, regionally, there were a whole series of organizations that
were focused primarily locally," Obama said, according to an NBC
transcript. "And I was very specific at that time. What I said
was, not every regional terrorist organization is automatically a
threat to us that would call for a major offensive."

But Politifact, a leading fact-checking organization,
subsequently rated Obama's recollection as "false."
Politifact even reached out to the author of The New Yorker story
to confirm the specific context of Obama's quote: the capture of
Fallujah just days before.

"At the time, Islamic State (often referred to as by its acronyms
ISIS or ISIL) was not a household name. It was often referred to
as an Al Qaeda-linked group in press reports. But reports from
the time clearly indicate that the group was responsible for
taking over the city," Politifact reported. "We rate the
statement False."

In August, a White House spokesman
similarly insisted Obama was talking about multiple groups in
the New Yorker interview — not just the Islamic State. At the
time, The Washington Post's fact-checking service rated the
administration's spin with
"Four Pinocchios."